This should wrap up the story, until I think of something else, or decide to subtract something (probably that little scrap I inserted about my wedding night.) Here you are: Our children were finally welcomed in school, and we have done business in nearby Cove and LaGrande for years now. Neither of us can honestly say that all prejudice has been swept away poof! by a magic wand, but we remain ever hopeful, as we must.

I only wish Chief Joseph had fared as well as we did. After many letters, visits, my own lobbying with Mary Miles, newspaper editorials and testimonials from friends in high places, in 1885 the non-treaty Nez Perce still alive in The Hot Place were allowed to return to the Pacific Northwest. These Nez Perce, Joseph’s band principal among them, were forced to settle in farther-away eastern Washington near Nespelem, on the Colville Reservation. Of the more than four hundred Nez Perce who arrived in Indian Territory initially, only two hundred survived to make the return journey. I can add no comment to such a statistic that makes me anything but angry, even now.

Duncan made many horse-trading visits to his kinsmen near Nespelem. Each time he tried to get Joseph to visit us. Joseph hemmed and hawed, said yes and then no until Duncan began to feel insulted. He also wondered if Joseph scorned him because he was following the white man’s road more than Blue Mountain Woman’s way, or even that he had married me.

Chief Joseph was always sensitive to others and he knew what he had to admit. He took Duncan aside on one of his visits and spelled it out. “It is this way, my kinsman,” he said to Duncan. “If I want to leave this place still so far from my home in the Blue Mountains, I must sign my name to a paper and ask the agent when he will let me leave and when I must return.” He spread his hands out, pleading for Duncan to understand. “This is not the way to treat a man. I cannot do it.”

Consequently, Joseph never came to our ranch, although he told Duncan many times that he wished he could see our children and our spotted horses. Duncan’s herd is truly a sight to behold. The Old Ones like to visit, walk among the herd, and remember other days. Duncan’s herd is not the only one, of course. The People are resilient and so are their horses. The signs are promising.

I last saw Joseph in 1899, when he did sign that paper and visited the Wallowa and Imnaha Valleys, accompanied by Major James McLaughlin, US Indian Inspector. (How does one inspect Indians? This has been a family joke for years.)